An Irish man who was kidnapped after falling for an email fraud scam was rescued when police raided a hotel in the capital of Ghana where he was being held captive.
James Lafferty, 49, from Ennis, Co Clare, had been held hostage for about five days while kidnappers demanded money for his safe return. He was freed after police …

COMMENTS

Missed Darwin oportunity.

It would have been better for the human race if he hadn't been rescued. This guy was just crying for a Darwin award. First he got sucked in by a 419 scam, then he tried to recover his money... ON THEIR TURF. Maybe he can get an honorable mention.

Dear Owner of Email

Greetings in Jesus name! I am most please to inform you of the kidnap of your son. He is unharmed, and I am prepared to release him for the sum of £100,000 (one hundred thousand pounds). You may contact me at this email address.

@ Salmon

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer

You gotta be real, real stupid to go to any kind of African country *unarmed* to try recovering your money. Even the average Yankee knows how ugly things get down there (even more with that recent Blood Diamond movie) involving rape, mutilation and very, very gruesome deaths.

Wait. Actually, some of the stuff happening on some places there might actually make you wish for death. And a quick one at that.

This is what happens when you give the stupid computers...

Ennis won a competition to be Telecom Eireann's "Information Age Town" some time in the 90s. Basically, there was IE£15M of cheap/free computers and ISDN access given out like sweets at a parade there in 1997/8, and as a result, there's people who think they "know computers" and know how not to make an idiot of themselves on the net who, by rights, probably shouldn't even have a computer. I'd lay money on him still using the Telecom Eireann computer, actually.

Edumacashunal

@Anonymous Coward

Obvious ones? Any unsolicited email should be regarded with suspicion, no matter what its content.

The moment it starts asking for anything - be it money, a plane ticket, whatever - biff it.

Let's face it, the only legitimate folk who are likely to ask for cash are your close friends and family. If you receive an email from them, they're easy to verify with a phone call or visit.

Most of these idiots get suckered because they think that charity is great. It doesn't occur to them that a genuine charity would never ask for funds via email (unless you had deliberately signed up to their list - and then you've only got yourself to blame).

These scams are always obvious - if only people would get it through their thick heads to ignore unsolicited email.

ac a moron

>Just because you've had one of the more obvious ones, doesn't make you an expert....

You know what, I don't need to know anything about current scams because I engage my brain. random person you don't know contacting you... check... wealth beyond wildest dreams for nearly no work/outlay... check... hmmm might be a scam!

I'm convinced school is basically not working. For me, it should have 3 hours every monday morning them writing out "if it seems too good to be true, then it is" over and over again.

unfortunately the bad guys realise that there's one born every minute. hell a friend of mine who lectures in HE got caught on that "women empowering women" pyramid scheme despite me saying "its a fucking pyramid scheme"

why do social engineering scams work? because people are morons (i listened to my friend the other day give out her passport number duh). why do 419 scams work? because people are greedy morons. Why do alternative therapists make so much money? because people are spiritual morons.

Man I wish I was heartless enough to take advantage of all the wallies out there waiting to be fleeced but i've got too much dignity. maybe i should convert to a religion then I could fleece people then be admonished of my sins....

The broadcast has been brought to you by the "Everybody in the world is a fucking moron" party

Dawin missed this one....

I find it odd...

...how the same community of people can shudder with moral outrage at a guy who pees on a dying woman, and then turn around and vocally bemoan the fact that the victim of a scam wasn't murdered.

It would appear that, in addition to believing that finances are a litmust test for legitimate computer ownership ("There was... cheap/free computers... as a result there's people who shouldn't have a computer"), Reg readers by and large believe that 'stupid' people deserve to die.

New contest...

Keep a running total of all the millions that you get offered in the 419 scams. Find out the monthly total. Given the amount of "lose cash" floating around Africa, we could just about settle all the debt they ever had. In a couple of years, the US debt could be put away for good.

@David Wiernicki

There is a slight difference between a helpless, expiring invalid, who got urinated on as a prank, and a moron.

To A) fall for a 419 scam (come on, EVERYBODY knows that anything involving Africa is a fraud*) and to then B) go there (!) to try to recover your money – this person should not be eligible to vote, drive, and especially breed!

* Yes, you read right, everything from the African continent is a fraud – from 10,000,000 from [random person] – to FREE puppies (for which you have to pay...)

P.S. there should be an option of blocking all email from Africa, from your ISP – that should be on by default, I can guarantee that no one will notice it, apart from a near-instantaneous drop in 419.

419eater.com

idiot

Good thing he survived - now he can be a shining example to all other computer users as to WHY the world says NO to 419ers. In the process of standing on a stage and shouting about why its a good idea to bin these emails directly, he will be eating humble pie, punishment for putting his family and colleagues through hell, along side punishment for being an idiot in the first place.

Its frightening that in this day and age of technology, people are still falling for these scams. As long as there are idiots like these guys, there will always be 419ers making money.

Hmmm...

Bungs

I bet he also had to bung the officials for entry/exit visa's, and again at customs, and leave rather a large tip for the police for recovering him too. If there's one thing more effective than the 419 boys, its the official corruption.

@ Daniel B

story update

From what I've heard on the radio here in Ireland, the scammers asked if they could leave their money rest in his a/c for a small fee. After he gave them his bank details they took EUR200,000 off the poor fellow.

419 scams

@David Wiernicki

"Reg readers by and large believe that 'stupid' people deserve to die." No true but I suspect a goodly number would like to see you face down in a puddle especially if you think that pissing on another individual is the same as some greedy tosser who wants money for nothing getting his just reward.

@David Wiernicki

I'm a very consistent type of anon. I think both are funny (in the case of wee boy I think it's funny that he's dumb enough to do it, I think it's funny he was dumb enough to put it on youtube and I think it's funny he got caught), and I demand pics! Stupid people are funny.

Preferably of this irish guy sitting in the back of a flat back truck with some guys carryin ak47's and a dude with a rocket launcher.

Anyway most people who get scammed are old, so what does this say about "o education was so much better back in the day" claims?